UK Getting Two 50 Megawatt Batteries for £250m

Cumbria and Kent are about to become the UK's battery compartments, with the two sites set to benefit from a £250m investment in energy storage. The end result will be two battery farms able to store 50 megawatts of power between them, and perhaps even a bit more than that if staff blow on them and swap them around.

Cleator in Cumbria and Glassenbury in Kent are the sites, which will be using traditional lithium-ion storage banks to save up green electricity generated from the windy days to keep our fridges working on non-windy days.

Operator VLC Energy is doing it under the National Grid's enhanced frequency response scheme, under which suppliers have to be able to provide their power within one second of demand rising, helping ensure the lights don't go out and the chargers don't stop charging by balancing the load on the power grid. LG Chem and NEC Energy Solutions are building the batteries. [Business Green]